IFF Health, Shanghai, has formed a strategic partnership for R&D of anti-ageing ingredients with BY-HEALTH, a Chinese producer of dietary supplements and raw materials. This multinational, Asia-Pacific company was founded in 2002 and has adhered to a differentiated global quality strategy for a long time.
According to the World Health Organization, by 2050 the global population of people over the age of 60 will more than double to 2 billion. Economic stresses and increasingly better health and nutrition will combine to keep these seniors working and active. Moreover, the population of those living past 80 years is projected to nearly triple to almost half a billion. Yet the biology of ageing minds and bodies can’t be denied.
Together, IFF Health and BY-HEALTH are researching the production and international development of true, science-based anti-ageing ingredient formulations. The formulations will have a special focus on fighting cellular oxidative stress, support of intracellular health such as of the mitochondria, and telomerase research.
Telomeres are the repetitive nucleotide sequences that cap chromosomes and protect them from deterioration or from fusing with neighbouring chromosomes and preventing healthy cell replication and turnover. They have been identified as being key factors in the process of ageing.
Telomeres are the repetitive nucleotide sequences that cap chromosomes and protect them from deterioration
“Our purpose at IFF Health demands more than just being a healthy ingredients company,” says Raimund Hoenes, PhD, General Manager IFF Health. “This requires a committed partner to put uncommon sense to work in order to reinvent and refocus our industry. But more than giving consumers new products to support their healthy lifestyle, it’s also about how we deliver that capacity.”
As a collaborative effort committed to, and driven by, scientific research, the IFF Health and BY-HEALTH teams will investigate ingredient synergies that will not only be marked by high efficacy but superior applicability to better-for-you food and beverage applications.
BY-HEALTH says it established the first fully “transparent” manufacturing facility in the Chinese health food industry, and one of the most advanced production bases worldwide for vitamins and dietary supplements, exercising the strictest quality control. The factory is open to the public, its global raw materials are fully traceable, and the production process visible. The facility employs some 200 detection points of internal control to carry out production under standards that surpass national standards, all in order to ensure customer confidence and provide the highest quality products.
While the senior population continues to grow and consumers are living longer, 57% of global consumers expect to be fit and healthy in old age, according to Euromonitor. To keep the healthy but ageing balance required, it is paramount to focus on developing ingredients and technologies that truly support this rapidly expanding demographic.
